


The News

by itstonedme



Category: Troy (2004) RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-21
Updated: 2013-10-21
Packaged: 2017-12-30 02:04:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1012739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itstonedme/pseuds/itstonedme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This little ficlet dates from the summer of 2010 right after Orlando married and before the news that he and his wife would become parents in the New Year.  Recent paparazzi pictures of Orlando, his son on his shoulders happy as a lark and <a href="http://wonderwall.msn.com/movies/somebodys-after-orlando-blooms-pirate-treasure-and-more-lol-pics-26814.gallery">with his fingers up his dad's nose</a>, has prompted <a href="http://itstonedme.livejournal.com/45044.html#cutid1">this repost</a> from July 2010 on LJ.</p><p>Disclaimer: Absolute bollocks, although it would be nice to think otherwise.  All respect due to those mentioned.</p><p>Feedback: Always welcomed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The News

He's in the garage, tinkering with a Ducati, when his mobile goes off. Checking the screen, he smiles wide. "Bloom!"

"Hey, mate. I owe you a call."

Eric drops the ratchet and grabs a rag. Without preamble: "It's true, then? You're with wife?" 

A soft gust of laughter travels up to a few satellites and down into Eric's ear. "I am indeed."

"Feels great, doesn't it. She's a beautiful girl, and I mean that in every way."

Orlando turns towards the open veranda where his bride sits reading a book before a quiet beach swept with diamonds in the setting sun. "She is everything," he confesses.

Eric nods; he is no stranger to the sentiment. Grinning broadly, he adds, "Not the least of which she's a fucking Aussie girl!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll give you that."

"They make great wives," Eric grins. He gives up on dealing one-handed with the rag and joggling the phone, and wipes both hands in his pants. 

Orlando turns back towards the room. "I'm – we're – with something else," he says.

Eric's smile becomes something bigger. He's honoured by the confidence he anticipates, and he waits.

"I'm to be a father," Orlando says, and the admission makes his breath hitch.

" _Mazel tov_ ," Eric says warmly. "I'm very happy for you."

Orlando closes his eyes against the surge of emotion that threatens to spill. His pending parenthood hasn’t been a secret within his family or close friends, not for the past week or more. Now that the third month has come and gone without incident, he and Miranda have been sharing the news, enjoying the congratulations and joy that has swept his small circle, swept his very being. But here, speaking with Eric, he knows that Eric _knows_ , that Eric can hear all that's not being said, read all that terrifies him.

"It'll be fine," Eric smiles. "You'll be fine. You're more than ready, Orlando, you have been for a while, even if you don't think that." 

"I know," Orlando says. His voice is so small.

"No, you don't." Eric looks out the garage door, at the debris of childhood and family life checkering his yard. "You think it's too much, too soon, now that it's real. And it's all of that, and much, much more. Hang on to your hat, little brother. You're about to ride into the biggest adventure of your life."

Orlando nods. He needs to hear this, he needs to know it's more than just a milestone, that it's more than what every man may or may not have thought since the beginning of time. But still. "I think of my father," he says, "of both of them – that it was different for them and therefore it was different for _me,_ and that I've got to do more, be more than that. But I'm afraid that no matter how hard I want it or try – " 

"Stop," Eric says gently, and Orlando does, and sighs, and winces against the water forming in his eyes.

"We're never ready, Orli," he says. "And yet we are. You'll fuck up in all kinds of little ways, and berate yourself and regret things said, things done. But never underestimate the power of your child's love to keep you honest. It's going to be fine. It's going to be fucking magnificent."

Orlando smiles and nods his head. Does he believe Eric? Yes. No. 

Yes.


End file.
